New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala, and New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) Commissioner Zach Iscol today released the Rainfall Ready NYC action plan — a plan to prepare the city government and everyday New Yorkers for more extreme rainfall in the future. As climate change brings more extreme weather to the five boroughs, the city is making significant investments in infrastructure to keep New Yorkers safe, and today’s action plan outlines the additional steps New Yorkers can take to protect themselves and their property.
“Climate change is the city’s biggest environmental threat, and while we continue to invest in resiliency and infrastructure projects to protect us for generations to come, the Rainfall Ready NYC action plan will help every New Yorker to protect themselves, their families, and their homes,” said Mayor Adams. “The city is acting now to keep New Yorkers safe as we move into hurricane season, and I encourage every New Yorker to make emergency plans for the next extreme weather event.”
“Our climate is changing and that means increasingly common extreme weather impacting New York City, but there are measures we can take to prepare ourselves and the Rainfall Ready NYC action plan outlines the projects city government has underway to manage our new reality, as well as steps residents can take to protect themselves and their property,” said New York City Chief Climate Officer and DEP Commissioner Aggarwala. “The design and construction of large infrastructure projects to manage our changing climate will take time to complete and Rainfall Ready NYC is meant to outline the shared actions that can be taken in the short-term to ensure public safety.”
“Every New Yorker deserves to live in a safe home in the face of a changing climate,” said New York City Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz. “Working with Chief Climate Officer Aggarwala, we will ensure that New York City is prepared for increasing extreme weather and that our neighbors’ homes are protected against flooding. Rainfall Ready is an important step forward in building stronger housing and a more resilient city.”
“Being prepared for extreme weather emergencies is a shared responsibility, and Rainfall Ready NYC is a blueprint that will guide us throughout all phases of the disaster cycle,” said NYCEM Commissioner Iscol. “While the city has made several improvements to its operations — from mitigation to preparedness, response, and recovery — Rainfall Ready NYC captures how we will continue to safeguard our city and the public. With hurricane season and summer under way, I also encourage New Yorkers to make emergency plans that best match their needs before extreme weather and other emergencies occur, by visiting us online or calling 311.”
As rising greenhouse gas emissions accelerate climate change, New Yorkers should expect more frequent and extreme rainfall events that can produce volumes of stormwater that the city’s infrastructure was never designed to capture. While the city is making important investments to improve resiliency and prepare New York City for the effects of climate change, all New Yorkers can take immediate steps to prevent death, injury, and property damage when these intense rainfall events do occur. Rainfall Ready NYC outlines what steps New Yorkers and city government can take to combat extreme weather together, including:
- Encouraging New Yorkers to use new interactive stormwater flood maps to understand the likelihood of flooding on one’s block and to make a plan to get to higher ground if needed.
- Inspecting chronic flooding locations and clearing debris from catch basins in at-risk locations prior to predicted storms. New Yorkers are encouraged to clear litter and debris from the curb line and nearby catch basins and deploy barriers to protect low-lying areas.
- Expanding FloodNet, a network of street flooding sensors designed to better understand the frequency, severity, and impacts of flooding in New York City. These sensors will be installed in the most vulnerable areas for real-time data collection and will be accessible via a dashboard for public use beginning later this month.
DEP will also be providing sandbags and flood barriers to residents in at-risk neighborhoods, and the city has engaged Los Deliveristas, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and DoorDash in a working group to create new strategies for ensuring extreme weather messaging reaches delivery workers. The group will also work to develop protocols to ensure that delivery workers are kept safe during extreme weather, such as restricting deliveries during dangerous weather conditions. The Rainfall Ready NYC action plan will be shared widely in the weeks and months to come as all New Yorkers must take steps to prepare for more extreme weather.
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